Category Archives: Guaymuras Accord

After Honduras president Manuel Zelaya was deposed on June 28th, and replaced by Roberto Micheletti, the Costarican president and Nobel Peace laureate Oscar Arias was entrusted with the task of facilitating talks between the two Honduran sides in search for a head of state that the world would recognize. After two months the tico president has not achieved the goal. Honduras remains diplomatically isolated and under increasing sanctions.

The problem seems obvious: Arias has been determined to achieve a preconceived outcome. He has acted as an arbitrator – and a judgmental one at that – rather than as an unbiased mediator. His stated goal has been the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya as president, and he totally ignores the fact that the democratic institutions of Honduras, including the supreme court, affirms that it would be unconstitutional.

In other words, Oscar Arias ignores the legal reality in search for an entirely political solution.

A Solution

Logically, there is only one way to defuse the situation and that is to go the legal path; to seek what is right, and not what is politically expedient. The question is only how to do it, given that there is no court that can determine if it was a coup or not.

Or is there?

There may actually be a court case before the Honduran courts that can, coincidentally, settle the question. The attorney general of the country is investigating, I’ve been told, the expelling of citizen Manuel Zelaya from the country by the military on June 28. It was a patently unconstitutional act, and the chief lawyer of the military has stated that the military took the decision since they did not have adequate facilities in which to imprison the deposed president.

This court case will hopefully enable all Hondurans to find out what actually happened, and what considerations were made.

Personally I have much more faith in that this court case will bring peace back to Honduras, than any talks involving Manuel Zelaya. Ultimately what matters is what the people of Honduras thinks, not what the world thinks. If there is a legal consensus forming in the country about what happened, tensions will defuse.

How could anyone possibly be against this? Except those who do not want peace, democracy, and the rule of law, of course.

Update 20:05 ET – Insulza just folded. They met half way, meaning that he will come along but only as an observer. A new date for the visit will be set in the next two days, according to a new press release from the Honduran foreign department, dated 2009-08-09.

Original text 18:16 ET – In a press release today, the government of Micheletti announces that the delegation that was to visit Honduras on Tuesday must change their plans. The reason is that the secretary of OAS, José Miguel Insulza, insists on participating and he is not welcome.

The initiative to the visit came from the new government themselves. The background is that no foreign diplomats have been briefed, still, by the democratic institutions of Honduras about the events of June 28, when Micheletti replaced Zelaya as president. The international community delegated to OAS (the Organization of American States) to do this, and their secretary, Insulza, went to Tegucigalpa.

However, during the visit he refused to meet with people who had come to inform him. He declared that he was not there on a fact-finding mission, but to leave an ultimatum: If Zelaya was not restored as president within 72 hours Honduras would be suspended from OAS.

After his departure Honduras itself left OAS, since they considered the organization compromised. OAS did not accept the resignation since they did not accept its government. Insulza’s report was the basis for suspending Honduras instead.

Oscar Arias later disqualified Insulza’s report, why Honduras has good grounds for accusing him for lack of objectivity, impartiality, and professionalism, as they do in the press release.

After the talks in Costa Rica under Oscar Arias stalled, Honduras suggested that Arias should send a delegation of foreign ministers to the country, so they could receive the briefing that Insulza had refused. It seemed clear the other day that the participants would come from Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Mexico.

Insulza is, however, insisting that he himself also should participate, which now has led Honduras to announce that the delegation is not welcome as long as he is part of it. If he is replaced by someone else from the OAS, a new date can be planned.

Since the visit is a strong desire on the part of Honduras, the behavior of Insulza cannot be interpreted as anything else than a deliberate attempt at sabotaging the country’s desire to mend its broken diplomatic relations. The fact that this undermines the peace in Latin America seems to be of no concern to Insulza, who may have a good chance at getting re-elected next year with the support of Hugo Chávez and his coalition of countries with doubtful democracy.

The European Union, and its presidency country Sweden, does not seem concerned over these authoritarian tendencies, but appears to continue to have complete faith in OAS and Insulza. According to a source at the Swedish foreign department this policy is set by Spain, a country that allegedly has a large and sensitive oil-related contract with Venezuela.

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Ulf Erlingsson

Purpose

This blog was originally set up to inform about the events of the political crisis in Honduras 2009, and that information can still be found in the archives. The content gradually shifted to debate reforms aimed at increasing democracy under the rule of law, and thus raise the standard of living for all in the country. Among the crucial factors for sustainable development we find science. It is maintained by Ulf Erlingsson, D.Sc.